GAME OF INTERNS — Assignment is here! 🥶🐲 🔥
Hey guys! How are you all? I’m back with another themed content today 😅How many of you are “Game Of Thrones” fans here? Just type in the comments. I want to see your energy. I am a die-hard fan too :)
My main aim of this article is to make it very simple without using technical words. I am trying my best to make this article feel more like a 1:1 conversation as if I am speaking with my friend sitting opposite.
Gratitude turns what we have into enough
First of all, thanks for all your support and encouragement. I am so grateful 🙏 🙏 and excited to write this second assignment. I was thinking about something to start from today. Gratitude is not about saying it but also living by the definition. Many people have helped me so far in my journey, and I always had a feel to give back to this community. From now on, for every assignment that I get paid, I will be doing the following
📌 25% of the total amount — Will use this to gift a book to one intern every week. I will share more about this in the end. You guys are a boosting factor, and so I want to show my gratitude to you guys as well. I am not in a position to gift everyone. But I am trying my best to gift at least one member every week. Be assured that I always stand by my words.
📌Another 25% of the total amount — Will be donating to charity.
📌The third fraction of the total amount will be for the savings amount to gift my mom. She was the one who helped me to reach this stage. Without her support, I would not have reached this stage at all. She deserves even more right? But yeah, let’s stick to our plan for now.
📌And the final 25% will be for me to invest back ;)
✅ Now, I have a huge responsibility to complete all these four tasks as promised every week. It is going to be the biggest driving factor for sure to give my best.
So let’s get the ball rolling…⚽
“When you play the game of interns, you earn or you learn.” (Not carrots or sticks really 😜)
All the best swords have names
So why did I select this title when everyone is going for something related to “Customer Avatar”? There is a reason. As Deepak mentioned, everyone is doing their best, and we could see a very high completion rate. There is a positive pressure prevailing among us to give our best. I feel this is to be a game with only positive outcomes shaping everyone of us to give our best. Another reason for selecting this title is…Click Bait. It’s all about MARKETING, right?. Heck yeah! The primary purpose is “to attract attention and encourage visitors to click on my link to read my content.” Mission accomplished ✔️, and you are reading my content now 😁 And yes, I released the short teaser video a few days back to increase the audience curiosity.
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade
I had a look at the assignment submissions, and everyone was giving their best🔥. A high performing community full of positive vibes. Wow, insane value! I have invested in lakhs on various courses but never had the accountability as we have now. Deepak is an example of understanding one’s customer avatar very well. Hats off to Deepak for taking this initiative. It is a brave move, for sure👏👏.
One of the assignments that made me give a standing ovation was the one by Vamsi Pannala. You are awesome man! Keep up the excellent work for setting up high standards. I saw many comments mentioning that they too want to write like Vamsi Pannala. Each of us has our writing style, and it’s best to use that to express yourself rather than trying to mimic others. I can never write like Vamsi. I am damn sure about it but can learn from him and improve my content. I have my own style of delivering my content. My strength is coming up with creative ideas to make the content more engaging. Each of us has our unique strength and weakness. Let’s try our best to fine-tune our real power rather than forcing ourselves to refine our weakness.
I have a strange problem. Usually, I do not read others assignment until I have completed mine. The reason is, I will get a creativity block, and my mind will get occupied with the top-performing content. And I get stuck with the particular format. So I have to unlearn my readings and get into my zone to come up with creative ideas. But this time, I got tempted to read many assignments and everyone was giving their best. Good job, guys!👏
It’s better to wait for the right time than risk everything
I had a fantastic experience over the past week. If you ask me, it is o̶n̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶e̶s̶t̶ the best week to end this year. How would you feel if things that you have been waiting for the past few years are coming true in a single week? That’s what exactly happened in my case. I can write a long post of 2000 words sharing my experiences alone, but I have a lot more to convey. So don’t wish to go overboard on this one. I was feeling low for the past week due to some personal problems but these precious moments made my day. I will share a few glimpses of my best moments here. A picture is worth a thousand words right?
Deepak messaged me in Messenger and then created a private WhatsApp group for us. Here’s our conversation 🔥
That’s all folks. I have been waiting for all these fantastic moments as I do for every GOT season ;)
There’s nothing more powerful than a good story
I will share a fantastic experience with you guys right now. I know you all have been working hard for the past few days to complete the class 2 assignment. Please remove all your distractions right now and read this content for a few minutes. Just concentrate and give your full attention now.
“Sit comfortably and breathe slowly for a few minutes. When you are ready, close your eyes or lower and soften your gaze, continuing to breathe deeply and, slowly. I would like you to imagine now that you are standing in your kitchen, or the kitchen of someone you know. Choose a kitchen that you are very familiar with, that is associated with pleasurable memories. (pause) As you see various different kitchens you’ve known flash through your mind’s eye, settle on one.
Imagine you are standing at the doorway to this kitchen and glance around it, noting the walls, cabinets, counter tops, the floor. Imagine the appliances that are in this kitchen -– the refrigerator, the stove, oven, dishwasher. Look at the counter tops, noticing things that are placed there. Over the kitchen sink, there may be a window. Imagine the window is open, and a soft warm breeze is blowing in, perhaps gently moving the curtains. There are pleasant smells in this kitchen; perhaps cooking or baking smells linger in the air. It is a warm, inviting place.
Now bring your gaze to the counter and notice that there is a beautiful wooden cutting board there. On top of the board sits a bright yellow lemon. You notice its color -– a vibrant yellow -– its size and shape. You reach out and pick up the lemon, noticing how it feels to your touch. The skin is both smooth and slightly bumpy; you may see the end where it was attached to the tree.
Next to the cutting board, you see a sharp kitchen knife. Return the lemon back to the cutting board, and carefully pick up the knife in your dominant hand. Holding the lemon steady with your other hand, cut the lemon in half. As you do this, you’re feeling the knife slicing through the fruit, and it falls open revealing beautiful jewel-like pulp in neat rows. You see the fresh white pulp and perhaps some seeds inside. Drops of juice have spilled onto the cutting board. Now take one half of the lemon and cut it again, making a quarter-size slice. Put the knife down, and bring the lemon quarter up to your nose. You are aware of the sharp, fresh citrus scent filling your nose. Touch the lemon to your lips, noticing the sensations. Now, open your mouth and BITE into the lemon.”
Are you still with me? What sensations did you have during the exercise? Did you felt as if this is happening for real and could taste the lemon juice? This exercise shows the power of our mind to affect the physical reaction in our bodies as if it was really happening.
Amazing right? If not, please go and try again. I always tend to relate my life experiences with my learning. I was thinking a lot for the past few days to come up with an idea for my blog post. I was blank, to be honest, and every one of you started to post your awesome assignments. I can’t change my habit of completing my tasks only before the deadline LOL. It has been my habit from my college days.
This particular incident happened last Friday. My best friend has ON and OFF symptoms of Anxiety and Depression. We went and met a Medical counselor. She gave him a few ideas to tackle anxiety. One of the exercises was the one I mentioned above “The Lemon Story”. I got impressed after hearing that. She told me an imaginary story, and it triggered emotions. Wow right? Is this the power of Storytelling?. Period! How about writing content in such a powerful way that triggers emotions? And connect with the audience? This will be a superpower for sure. I am mind-blown.
I came back home and immediately started researching this stuff. I came across this exercise content from a website. It is from the training materials developed by Dr James Gordon and The Center for Mind Body Medicine. Thanks to this Genius. I wanted to share this exercise with you guys to show the power of Storytelling. Brilliant stuff indeed! (PS: Thanks to the doctor for giving me a blog post idea 😜)
All men must serve
I thought of doing something different after this session 2 class. Everyone is trying to create customer Avatar in their niche. We have all joined the internship program, and we are having so many questions and doubts. So I thought, why not create a survey as Deepak said to solve the queries of our interns? I had this spark after the Q n A session we had on Sunday. I wish to understand the need of my co-interns. Based on the feedback, I can try to provide more video tutorials in our FB group and can improve my writing, too, right? I wish to contribute more value to this community. But I would like to know more about your queries so that I can try best to help you. Please spend a few minutes to complete this survey. It’s going to help both of us as well as all the interns. Thanks in advance!
Some of the key learning from the class 2 by Deepak are as follows
Learn → Do → Teach
It’s called the Golden Triangle. When you learn something new, the entire learning is in your mind. It’s not very clear. And what happens is that when you learn something new, the information is all over the place. It’s like random pieces of the puzzle, inside your mind. When you actually implement what you have learned, the information gets organized in a better way in your mind.
Mistakes are future-benefits
… the value of which is yet to be realized. If you have made some mistake in the assignment and you think that your English is not that great, then it’s totally fine. You can still continue doing this. By continuing to do this, what happens is that overtime you will improve slowly. If you write the next assignment, you will gain confidence in yourself which is the point of the entire program. So there is no hundred per cent perfect way to do this, and you should not worry too much about it. Just get things done. And things will automatically fall in place as you do more of this.
Marketing is about good conversations
Digital marketing is more about marketing than about digital. So, marketing is about good conversations. If you are a better communicator, then you can also be a better marketer. So, if you cannot speak well, one to one, you cannot talk, well, one to many people as well. For example, if you speak to your friend, you are going to have a perfect conversation with your friend because you are interacting one on one. But if you can have the same level of communication with hundreds of thousands of people, then that it is a superpower.
Be authentic to communicate better
Being authentic is the best way to become a better communicator. If you want to become a better communicator, especially when you are communicating “one to many”, you need to become authentic. Generally, what happens is that as people, we developed personas. So we have a persona in the office where we behave in a certain way with our boss. We have a persona at home, and we have a different persona with different people. Still, we are usually authentic when we talk to our closest friends. Because that’s where we don’t hide anything, we are just ourselves. This is very important to become an attractive marketer who can communicate better because people are generally tired of fake people. Nobody wants to talk to people who are putting up a fake social persona. Over time, as you develop this character of being authentic, you will become a better communicator.
Who is a better marketer?
People with more life experience are generally better marketers. Start travelling, discover yourself, learn new languages. Whatever you want is on the other side of fear. So, whatever you fear, like for example, you fear to be lonely, make a solo trip. You will get rid of the fear.
Who is your audience?
Who is the best person that you communicate? The easiest? The best friends from school, the best friend from college, right?. These are the people with whom we have very fluid communication. We don’t have any problem communicating with them. That’s because we know them very well. So if you have to communicate with your customers very well, then you need to understand who your audience is. You have to talk to the people directly in your niche. And you have to figure out who is the specific persona, who is the exact audience that you have. This is the most crucial thing in marketing before we get started with anything. So when you want to communicate to your audience better, you need to learn their demographics and psychographics. Demographics is the age, the location, where they’re from, and things like that. And psychographics is more about their interest levels, what they like, what they fear, what they don’t like, and stuff like that. Once you learn all those things, you will be able to define who is your target customer, and you will be able to communicate better to them. Everyone is alone with their device, so connect with them one on one. Every person is sitting on their laptop alone. This is the reason for connecting with them personally.
Every person has to feel that we are talking to them directly. Every person has to feel that connection. So when you are writing content, creating marketing, ad copies, email content, social media content, whatever content that is, you should always think about that one single person that you are writing. Then that person is not going to feel like you’re talking directly to them. We need to join the conversation you are already having in your mind. You will know what your target person is having in their mind, only if you define your customer avatar.
I have prepared some content on niche selection and Customer Avatar for you guys. Shall I go ahead?
I learnt these techniques from various marketing geniuses in the field. So, all credits go to them. I wanted to share my knowledge and learning with you all which I gathered from these guys.
What is a Niche?
A niche involves products or services that appeal to a small section of the population.
How to select your Niche?
- Think of something that fits your interests, knowledge and experiences.
- You do not have to be the best.
- Make sure there is at least a decent competition. Competition is a good sign.
- You can use Google Autocomplete to research seed ideas.
- Stay away from niches with insane competition such as Acne, weight loss etc.
First of all, You need clarity!
Once you have finalized your niche, then the next step is to find what your target market is looking for? You need to know what your Customer would be searching on Google when needs something.
For example, let’s say your target niche is Digital marketing. Now put yourself in the shoes of your Customer and think. What and all will I search on the internet? This is a crucial step. Come up with 5 to 6 ideas
What are the different ways to promote digital marketing?
How can you increase traffic to a website?
What are the top digital marketing tools?
Why is keyword research necessary?
How should I start a social media campaign for my business?
How can I avoid Google penalties?
What is lead generation?
These are some of the content that our audience would be searching for. Your ideal Customer is known as your Avatar. You need to understand him better to make your marketing efficient and profitable. Once we get a clearer picture, we can easily convey our message to our ideal audience.
When coming up with Your Customer Avatar, you need to ask yourself these questions:
- WHAT DO THEY SEE?
Describe what your ideal Customer sees in his/her environment:
● What does it look like?
● What types of offers are they exposed to daily? - WHAT DO THEY HEAR?
Describe how the environment influences your ideal Customer:
● What do their friends say?
● Who influences them, and how? - WHAT DO THEY THINK & FEEL?
● What is important to them?
● Describe their dreams and aspirations. - WHAT DO THEY SAY & DO?
● What is their attitude? - WHAT IS THEIR PAIN?
● What are their biggest frustrations?
● What obstacles stand between them and their wants or
needs to achieve? - WHAT DO THEY GAIN?
● What do they genuinely want or need to achieve?
● How do they measure success?
Resources that you can use to help you:
1. Snoopsnoo
2. Goggle and Amazon Reviews
3. Reddit
4. http://www.makemypersona.com/
5. http://www.solutionsiq.com/what-is-an-empathy-map/
6. https://blog.bufferapp.com/marketing-personas-beginners-guide
Here is a plan of action:
Research:
Where does your customer avatar hang out?
Facebook: Do some simple searches on Facebook and fnd out what groups they are in. What do they like?
Twitter: Type some targeted keywords into the search bar and see what they are tweeting.
Amazon: Go to the best-sellers list in your niche. What is being sold and bought at the moment.
List of top tools from my toolbox:
Content writing tools
Hemingway editor — http://www.hemingwayapp.com
Grammarly — https://www.grammarly.com/
ProWritingAid — https://prowritingaid.com/
Graphic design tools
Remove Image Background — https://www.remove.bg/
Canva — https://www.canva.com/
Youzign — https://youzign.com/
Thumbnail Blaster — https://thumbnailblaster.com/
Picmaker — https://www.picmaker.com/
Video marketing tools
Reevio — https://reevio.com/
Viddyoze — https://offers.viddyoze.com/
Content samurai — https://www.contentsamurai.com/
Camtasia — https://www.techsmith.com/video-editor.html
MovAvi — https://www.movavi.com/
TextingStory — http://textingstory.com/
Snagit — https://www.techsmith.com/screen-capture.html
IntroChamp — http://introchamp.com/
My “WHY”
My ‘WHY’ is to inspire people to find freedom. To help them achieve financial freedom so that they can spend their time with the people they love, doing the things they love to do. To help them live a life filled with purpose and fulfillment. I will help them to achieve these by teaching them the methods of Online business and Affiliate marketing.
My Customer Avatar
Ram is 30 years old and is married to Deepa(25). They have one daughter. Revathi is one year old.
For the past six years, he has been working at an IT company.
He does not mind his job, he is pretty good at it, but it does not inspire him or fill him with joy either. He is not passionate.
He wishes he and his wife could escape the rat race and live a nomad lifestyle.
The trouble is, while he is not on the breadline, he is not able to put much money away, and he fears for his future. He may lose his IT job anytime. He has lots of monthly EMI’s and loans to be paid.
Time is ticking away. He isn’t getting any younger and a career change seems impossible.
He does not want his wife to work. Even if she did, it is unlikely that the extra money can improve their lifestyle.
So, for the past few months, he has been researching a lot about online marketing. He knows his way around a computer a little bit.
But he is in no way, shape, or form, technical. He is new to this online world.
He has made $0 so far as he has not been serious and does not know what he is doing.
Part of him is not 100% sure he can do it. He has trust issues and has heard a lot of bad stories. He has listened to some success stories too.
He knows his lack of success is down to him not taking this seriously.
He knows he will not design the next big thing, but he does think he has what it takes to get $1000 a month. And that will allow him and his wife to live a freedom lifestyle.
The Final Season
Last but not least, our graduation party at Bangalore is going to be like… 🔥 🔥 🔥
I didn’t forget about gifting a book to one intern every week. You guys are fantastic! Please leave me your honest feedback about this article in the comments section. I will collect all the names who commented here and pick a random person using this tool: https://wheelofnames.com/. I will record the whole process of picking the winner and share it in our FB group to announce the final winner. As simple as that. Thanks for your support guys :)
Finally, we are coming to the end of the first season 😜. Hope you all enjoyed this. I know, I talked a lot. Thanks for your valuable time. Please leave feedback if you found my article useful. Thanks again!
